Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1887-12-16
DAYS OF THE PLATFORM.
When Distinguished Lecturers Spoke
Their Pieces for a Moderate Sum.

When Distinguished Lecturers Spoke
Their Pieces for a Moderate sum.
In the early days of the platform the
most distinguished lecturers seldom re-
ceived more than $50 lecture, exclusive
of expenses. and they usually visited large
towns within given territory. They
Travelled with comfort; put up at good
inns, when they did not accept private
hospitality, and were generously treated
in every respect. But, as time went on,
and the business increased, their field ex-
banded, and great fatigue and hardship
had to be incurred. Prices were much
higher: but they were hardly in proper
ton to the augmented labor and trials.
Lecturers were expected to journey far
beyond the Mississippi into wild regions,
where accommodations of every sort
were of the scantiest and poorest. AS
they had to make close connections, and
as the most active season was in winter.
early rising and dressing in cold rooms,
waiting at comfortless railway stations,
and staying at miserable taverns, COM
bined with uninterrupted hard work, ire
gular meals and severe nervous strain,
was such a draft on strength and health
that few constitutions could endure it.
Many lecturers were obliged to relinqllish
their calling altogether. more to confine
their engagements to limited area, while
not few were so broken down that they
never recovered. Those who had been
long in the field say that there is no toll
equal to it, that it is the most arduous
way of earning money with which they
have any acquaintance.
DR.. Holmes. still spontaneous and bril-
liant in his 18th year, was favorite lee
turer before the war, but found the strain
and drain on his nervous system al
together too great for his healthful
though delicate organization. He knew
that if he did not give up lecturing it
would give him up; consequently, for a
quarter of a century he has refused to be
again beguiled into the field by the most
| fattering offers. He owes his longevity
to his extreme care of himself III every
way. He enjoys life so keenly that he is
unwilling to surrender any particle of it
which he can retain by the exercise of
constant vigilance.
Dr. j. c. Holland had superb consti-
tuition and exceptional health, which
failed suddenly. and during his last years
he suffered much. He always ascribed
his break down to the exhaustive toll of
itinerant lecturing
Bayard Taylor, who had a fine ply
sique, so spent his early force by long
period of lecturing that he passed away
in comparative youth, when his pros
poets were brightest and his reputation
was steadily rising.
John B. Cough, though he lived to a
good age, would doubtless have lived
much longer had he retired from the ros-
trum He had had repeated warnings,
but he did not heed them. He paid the
penalty of wronging nature and disre-
garding prudential considerations.
Henry Ward Beecher would probably
have been alive today but for his persist.
ency in lecturing. No man has had a
more vigorous body, with more abound.
ing health; but he would make long and
tiresome journeys. lecturing all over the
country and in Great Britain, and this
with the numberless other tasks he sci
himself, killed him at 49, though his
father. whose ruggedness he inherited
lived beyond 81.
Wendell Phillips. George William Cur
It's James Parton, Parke Goodwin, Don
aid g. Mitchell and many other of the
early lecturers We're obliged to surrender
lecturing. to any extent. on account Of
the injury it did their health. They de
clare that the most rugged constitution
will yield to the extraordinary tension
after a number of years, and their ex
perience has clearly demonstrated thei
opinion to be correct.-Junius Henri
Brown in Globe democrat.